DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.6552#0391
352
APPENDIX.
MAKRIZI.
(died 845 a.n.)
His work on Egypt is No. 671 in Uri's Catalogue; and, in page
90, lie observes, that besides many others there are eighteen Pyra-
mids between Busir and Gizeh ; that some of them are small and
constructed with unburnt bricks, but that they are in general built
with stone. A few are in steps or stages, but most of them have
an inclined continuous form, and a smooth surface. A con-
siderable number are situated at Gizeh opposite to Old Cairo
Fostat; most of the smaller have been destroyed by Karakousch,
(the vizier of Salah-eddin Youssef Ben Ayoub), who built with the
materials Kela Gebel (the citadel), the walls of Cairo (Mesr), and
the causeway with arches near Gizeh. He says, that there were
various traditions respecting the three larger Pyramids at Gizeh,
but that it was not known by whom, or for what purpose, they had
been constructed. The author appears to have taken his remarks
principally from " Abd Allatif," and then proceeds on the authority
of Usted Ibrahim Ebn Wasyff Shah to give the account of Surid
Ben Shaluk, related by Masoudi. He afterwards says, that the
square of the base, and the height of the Great Pyramid, are five
hundred cubits, each consisting of twenty-four inches;0 that the
four sides are equilateral, and that a line from the summit of the
building down the centre of either of them would measure, if the
Pyramid were perfect, live hundred cubits, but in its present state
only four hundred and seventy. He states, that in a perfect state,
the perpendicular height would be above four hundred cubits; that
the base contains 500,000 square cubits. He considers that it is
the most beautiful and extraordinary monument that was ever
contrived, and that nothing can be compared with it. The exca-
vation he attributes to the Caliph Al Mamoon, who, he says,
ascended by a passage into a square chamber, where he found
the sarcophagus which yet remains in it. The author then
quotes from the fihrist (index) of Ibrahim Alwatwati al Warrak,7
e The MS. at Oxford is much defaced, but in a copy in the British Museum,
7317, these dimensions are said to be taken from Ali Ben ltisvvan, an Arab
physician: Makrizi's whole account is indeed taken from other authorities.—Dr.
Sprenger.
7 According to M. Jomard's translation in the " Memoirs of the Institute," this
author says, that a square chamber in the centre of the Great Pyramid, contains
APPENDIX.
MAKRIZI.
(died 845 a.n.)
His work on Egypt is No. 671 in Uri's Catalogue; and, in page
90, lie observes, that besides many others there are eighteen Pyra-
mids between Busir and Gizeh ; that some of them are small and
constructed with unburnt bricks, but that they are in general built
with stone. A few are in steps or stages, but most of them have
an inclined continuous form, and a smooth surface. A con-
siderable number are situated at Gizeh opposite to Old Cairo
Fostat; most of the smaller have been destroyed by Karakousch,
(the vizier of Salah-eddin Youssef Ben Ayoub), who built with the
materials Kela Gebel (the citadel), the walls of Cairo (Mesr), and
the causeway with arches near Gizeh. He says, that there were
various traditions respecting the three larger Pyramids at Gizeh,
but that it was not known by whom, or for what purpose, they had
been constructed. The author appears to have taken his remarks
principally from " Abd Allatif," and then proceeds on the authority
of Usted Ibrahim Ebn Wasyff Shah to give the account of Surid
Ben Shaluk, related by Masoudi. He afterwards says, that the
square of the base, and the height of the Great Pyramid, are five
hundred cubits, each consisting of twenty-four inches;0 that the
four sides are equilateral, and that a line from the summit of the
building down the centre of either of them would measure, if the
Pyramid were perfect, live hundred cubits, but in its present state
only four hundred and seventy. He states, that in a perfect state,
the perpendicular height would be above four hundred cubits; that
the base contains 500,000 square cubits. He considers that it is
the most beautiful and extraordinary monument that was ever
contrived, and that nothing can be compared with it. The exca-
vation he attributes to the Caliph Al Mamoon, who, he says,
ascended by a passage into a square chamber, where he found
the sarcophagus which yet remains in it. The author then
quotes from the fihrist (index) of Ibrahim Alwatwati al Warrak,7
e The MS. at Oxford is much defaced, but in a copy in the British Museum,
7317, these dimensions are said to be taken from Ali Ben ltisvvan, an Arab
physician: Makrizi's whole account is indeed taken from other authorities.—Dr.
Sprenger.
7 According to M. Jomard's translation in the " Memoirs of the Institute," this
author says, that a square chamber in the centre of the Great Pyramid, contains